At first glance, content marketing may seem like a lot of work for an undetermined return on investment. However, companies that take the time to develop keyword lists, write blogs, compose emails, and post content to social media enjoy a healthy ROI.

They know that, per dollar, content marketing produces three times more leads than online display ads and other types of marketing.

Quality content marketing will improve your ranking on Google and other search engines, according to a recent survey of marketers conducted by BusinessBolts.com. Seventy-one percent of survey respondents said they use content marketing to improve ranking on search engine results.

Seventy-seven percent of survey respondents said they used content marketing to increase website traffic; 70 percent said they use content marketing to grow their brand. Marketers ranked sales as the fourth most important benefit at 59 percent.

Attract a New Audience Content marketing attracts a new audience to your business. Blogs are especially effective; a study of HubSpot small and medium business owners showed companies that blog enjoy superior marketing results. In this study of 1,531 businesses, the companies that blogged has 55 percent more website visitors than those that did not have a blog.

Drives Brand Awareness Increase awareness for your brand by providing useful and trustworthy information that your clients find particularly helpful. According to the Custom Content Council, the leading professional organization for branded content and content marketing in North America, 90 percent of customers find custom content useful. Sixty-one percent of people feel better about a company that provides custom content and that they would be more likely to purchase goods or services from that company.

Content marketing increases brand awareness by establishing your company as an authority in your field. This increased brand awareness converts directly into real sales – 59 percent of respondents to the Custom Content Council survey said content supported sales growth. Not only did these companies improve their bottom line, 45 percent said they cut advertising costs by implementing content-marketing strategies.

Content marketing can even give you a better understanding of your clients’ needs. Integrating software, like Google Analytics code, to your website helps you measure and understand who your audience is, where they are located, and how they found your webpage.

You will also learn how many people visit the site, the pages they visited, and how long they stayed. Adding analytic software to your content marketing strategy helps you determine which content resonates with audiences and what misses its mark.